Native Americans fought for civil liberties through politcal activism, founding groups like the Four Mother's Society and the Congress of American Indians.
While armed resistance only brought death and destruction, it was through political activism that Native Americans gained their greatest victories. Progress moved slowly, but each generation built on what the previous one had started and regional movements grew into national efforts. With the progressive reforms of the New Deal an explosion of activism among Native Americans came to national attention. Many groups advocated non-violent activities such as court proceedings and peaceful gatherings amid media attention. Others took a more demonstrative approach and occupied federal land as a gesture of defiance. Despite the disparity in methodology, the objective of all these organizations was the same--Native American self-determination.
Examples of non-violent, or grass roots, activism range from the circulation of petitions to dramatic gestures; like Cayuga Chief Deskaheh's attempt to gain international recognition of his tribe's sovereignty before the League of Nations in 1922. A variety of concerns motivated actions such as this. Some wanted to halt the ingress of the government onto their remaining lands while others wanted to be American citizens--with all the protections of that title. There were those who wanted racial equality and the right to gainful employment--difficult in an ill-balanced society such as the United States. One of the first national activist organizations to espouse this belief was the Society of American Indians. Founded in 1911, they urged assimilation and argued that Native Americans should be granted the same protections under the law as American citizens. Though not universally popular among all Indian groups, their methods of political agitation were soon adopted by others. The Four Mother's Society was founded by leaders of the Creek, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw nations in 1912. Though opposed to allotment (which would have broken reservations as sovereign nations and distributed the lands among the people) and absolute assimilation, they did believe that all Native Americans should have the right to become citizens of the United States. They petitioned the courts, pressured legislators, published newsletters, and even marched on Washington D.C. The culmination of these efforts was the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, brought about by years of collective effort. Perhaps the most recognized, if not the most vocal, of the pan-Indian activist organizations also grew out of the New Deal era. The National Congress of American Indians was founded in 1944 by Indian employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a majority of tribal leaders. This organization has been at the forefront of efforts to protect Native American heritage, secure equal employment opportunities, and protect tribal lands.
Individual tribes also made efforts to protect their remaining lands from greedy developers. The Tuscarora Seneca sued to prevent the creation of the Kinzua Dam, which would have flooded a sacred burial site. In Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation (1970), the Supreme Court upheld the government's justification of eminent domain and authorized the dam. Though the Tuscarora were forced to relocate their burial site, with barely enough compensation from the government to cover the expense, the case did bring national attention. Other efforts to halt development in subsequent years have been more successful. In McClanahan v. State of Arizona Tax Commission (1973), the Court ruled that money earned on a reservation from that reservation's funds was not taxable by the state--a decision which set precedent for future actions.
The rapidly shifting attitudes of the post war era and the rise of a disaffected youth culture gave birth to a different form of activism. The leaders of this generation were young and passionate. They were tired of endless legal battles and the rhetoric of their elders. They wanted action and they wanted results. Like their white contemporaries in the rising New Left (anti-war, anti-conservative, reactionary generation of the 1960s and 70s), these activists made bold statements in defiance of traditional norms of public discourse. While the majority of Native American activist groups avoided such controversial tactics, it was clear that a new madness was taking over the youth of America.
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